Series marks return to USA

BACK IN THE USA!
The history of the Superbike World Championship is linked inextricably to
the USA and the return of the USA Round to the calendar, this time in the
state of Utah, has aroused major interest in Europe and the rest of the
world....

BACK IN THE USA!

The history of the Superbike World Championship is linked inextricably to
the USA and the return of the USA Round to the calendar, this time in the
state of Utah, has aroused major interest in Europe and the rest of the
world. The date of June 1st 2008 is destined to become another milestone
in Superbike history.

The new home for the USA Round of the Superbike World Championship is the
fantastic Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City, a circuit that the
European Superbike regulars have been viewing with growing interest since
its date first appeared on the 2008 calendar. In the run-up to the sixth
round of this year's championship, we take a look back at the
history of World Superbike racing in the United States of America.

The Brainerd Years

The Superbike World Championship landed on American soil on June 11th
1989. It is a historic date because that was the day that SBK, which
became a motor sport phenomenon in the USA at the end of the '70s
and the start of the '80s, returned to its spiritual home. It was
also the first match-up between the American legends and the European
specialists who were making their name in the World Championship that had
been created by the FIM just one year before in 1988.

The race was held at the Brainerd circuit in Minnesota. The European
riders were amazed at the track which had a 1.8 km straight ending in a
blindingly fast fifth-gear corner. The first USA Round also saw a first
double win for Ducati in the hands of Raymond Roche of France. At the
time this win brought fame and incredible prestige for the small Italian
company in the country that represented the most important market in the
world for streetbikes.

The USA Round of the Superbike World Championship remained at Brainerd
for three seasons: 1989, 1990 and 1991. On each occasion the event was
scheduled for the second Sunday in June and was preceded by the Canadian
Round, making up a double-header North American visit that whetted the
appetite of fans worldwide for the battle between American and European
riders. The first home win for a US rider was obtained by Californian
Doug Chandler (Kawasaki) in 1990, followed twelve months later by Texan
Doug Polen who won at Brainerd on his way towards the world title, the
first by an American rider in the World Superbike Championship.

In 1990, the third year of Superbike, the FIM handed over the running of
the series to the Italian promoter Maurizio Flammini who in just a few
years succeeded in transforming a new championship, without any history
or tradition, into a worldwide motor sport phenomenon. Superbike racing
soon attracted the attention of the bike manufacturers, who over the
years have become increasingly involved in this production-based series,
and became legendary for bike fans around the world. Spectacular races,
technical exasperation and a close link with streetbike production
("Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday") have turned Superbike in
just a few years into a global phenomenon. While the championship was
going through this phase, the Brainerd leg was abandoned and the USA
Round disappeared from the championship for three seasons. Superbike was
in need of a more prestigious venue, and after years of waiting, in 1995
it crossed the Atlantic once again to take up a new home at the Laguna
Seca track in California.

The Laguna Seca Years

Laguna Seca held World Superbike races for ten successive years and at
the same time became one of the principal events on the calendar. The
fascination of a unique circuit, the spectacular setting, and an
increasingly massive influx of spectators over the years turned the USA
Round into a 'blue-ribbon' event that always represented a
challenge between the two hearts of Superbike: American and European. The
first event at Laguna Seca in 1995 witnessed the success of two
Australian talents, Anthony Gobert and Troy Corser: both spectacular
riders and both famous throughout the world. Corser had won the AMA
championship in the USA the previous year and was rapidly emerging in
Europe in the Ducati squad. The first American rider to win at Laguna
Seca was world-beater John Kocinski who took victory on a Ducati in 1996.

Over the years Superbike has given the Laguna Seca public and the entire
world some of the most spectacular racing and memorable action ever seen
on two wheels. The last time the Californian circuit was the venue for a
World Superbike race was in 2004 when Australian Chris Vermeulen scored a
double win on a Honda.